Patent GB-346140-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to vehicle headlight reflector dipping mechanism
IPC: B60Q1/14
Filed: 1930-03-21
Abstract: 346,140. Vehicle lamps. MECHA\- ICAL PRODUCTS CORPORATION, Ltd. and HUDSON, J. D., 10, St. James Street West, Montreal, Canada. March 21, 1930, No. 9160. [Classes 75 (ii) and 75 (iv).] Lantern screens; adjusting reflectors from a distance.-In an electric vehicle lamp provided with a dipping reflector, a distributing mechanism is provided for momentarily cutting off the light from the lamp whilst the reflector is being moved to and from the dipped position. The reflector may carry a screening device in the form of a grid. In the form shown in Fig. 15, a reflector 16, which carries a grid formed bv parallel corrugated plates 21 held in position by wires 22, is pivoted on trwmions 17 and is dipped by means of a springy connecting arm 66 which is moved backwards and forwards by an electric motor 38 bolted to a base 42 which is carried by a bracket 33 secured inside the lamp casing 15. The motor 38 is operatively connected through an orifice 51, Fig. 8, in a side wall 44 of the base 42, with the recessed head 57, Fig. 9, of'a threaded spindle 53, the tail 56 of which slides in an orifice 50 in the second side wall 43. The spindle 53 carries a non-rotatable nut 52 having a slotted bottom in engagement with a transverse track 49, and a square head which engages in a slot 62, Fig. 14, in the tail of a rocker-plate 59. The latter is journalled on a post 47 and its head has a hole 65 to receive a pin projecting downwardly from the connecting arm 66, and a stop slot 64 adapted to engage an upturned lug 45 to limit the movement of the rocker-plate 59 and therefore that of the reflector 16. After the rocker-plate is stopped by the lug 45, the nut 52 continues to travel along the spindle 53, riding along the bevelled tails 61 of the rocker-plate to lock the reflector in either of its two extreme positions. The nut 52 also engages in a slot 81 in a switch operating arm 70 fixed to a bushing 71 journalled on a shaft 72 which in turn is journalled in the base 42, the bushing 71 spacing the switch arm 70 from a switch cam 73, Fig. 12, having an extended hub fixed on the shaft 72. The cam 73 is elliptical of shape and operates between two rollers 75, 76 journalled at the ends of arms 77, 78 pivotally mounted on the switch arm 70. Movement of the arm 70 is limited by a stop pin 82 which projects upwardly into a slot in a contact supporting body 83, Fig. 2, made of insulating material such as hard rubber, or the material known under the Registered Trade Mark " Bakelite." The body 83 is screwed to three posts 46, 47, 48 and has three contacts 84, 85, 86 embedded therein and adapted to rub against an arc-shaped contact 91 on an insulated member 87, Fig. 6, rotatably mounted in the body 83. The member 87 is keyed to the shaft 72 and its rotation is limited by means of a slot 89 engaged by an inwardly projecting pin 90. The member 87 also carries arcuate contact plates 92, 93 and upstanding contact pins 94, 95. The body 82 carries posts 98, 99, 103, 104 to which are secured leaf contacts 96, 97, 101, 102, each pair of which are separated by fibre blocks 100, 105. The body 83 also carries spring contacts 106, 107 continuously rubbing on the arcuate plates 92, 93. Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the electrical connections, the leaf contacts 97 and 101 also being connected respectively to the contacts 84, 86. When the switch arm 109 is on contact 112 the bulbs 113 are lit, but when it is on contact 114 the bulbs are cut out, the motor 38 is energized by the field coils 117, and the reflector is dipped. At the same time the switch arm 70 is operated until the rollers 75, 76 reach the ends of the cam 73, when they rotate the cam, the shaft 72, and the contact pins 94, 95 in the opposite direction, thereby changing the connections, stopping the motor 38, and again lighting the bulbs 113. The lamps are returned to their normal condition by replacing the switch arm 109 on the contact 112 and thereby rotating the motor in the reverse direction.